Red Sea Crisis Disrupts Moroccan Agricultural Exports to Asia

"The trade deficit will soon become apparent - if nothing changes - at the time of the Chinese New Year, which is a great opportunity for fruit exports to China," fears Mourad Erraguragui, vice-president of the Moroccan Association of Intercontinental Road Transport (AMTRI), quoted by the information platform Hortidaily.com.

A few weeks before the month of Ramadan, these disruptions in the Red Sea will further affect Moroccan exports to highly Muslim populated Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Morocco had already considerably reduced its exports to the continent due to the perverse effects of the severe drought that has been hitting the kingdom for three years, content to supply the European market.

For Erraguragui, "the crisis in the Red Sea has exacerbated the impact on the Moroccan agricultural sector, as transport costs to Asia have now doubled and delivery times have increased by 10 to 15 days. This makes the export of Moroccan fresh produce too expensive for the final consumer. Not to mention the long delivery times that some perishable products cannot withstand. The entire ecosystem is affected, including workers who lose working days and carriers."

And to warn: "[...] if the crisis persists or worsens, we can expect freight rates via the Cape of Good Hope to stabilize or even decrease, once all parties have acclimatized to the new routes and daily fluctuations have ceased." For now, most carriers (15% of global maritime flows) prefer to go via the Cape of Good Hope.